goblin:// links

Goblin answers to links that start with goblin://. Anything on your Mac can open one: Terminal with open, a launcher, a script, any app that opens links, or a link in a note. Because anything can open them, these links can only show you things or do what Goblin's own menus do. None of them removes anything.

If Goblin isn't running, opening a link starts it. A link Goblin doesn't understand is ignored.

Open a link#

Pick whichever fits where you are.

From Terminal

1. Type open, a space, then the link in single quotes.
2. Press Return.

open 'goblin://awake/start?for=30m'

This starts a 30-minute Keep Awake session and prints nothing. Put the link in single quotes, so the shell leaves ? and & alone.

From a shortcut: in the Shortcuts app, add the Open URLs action and type the link in it. See Shortcuts.

From a script: osascript -e 'open location "goblin://awake/stop"' opens it from AppleScript, and any other tool that can open a URL works the same way.

From a note or web page: click the link. The first time, your browser may ask whether to open it in Goblin.

goblin://uninstall#

goblin://uninstall?path=<the app's path>

Opens the main window on Disk › Applications with that app and its related files ready for you to review. Nothing is removed until you choose to. This is the link Finder's Uninstall with Goblin uses.

The path must be:

• a full path to an app ending in .app
• inside /Applications or your own ~/Applications folder (subfolders are fine)
• not an app inside another app
• percent-encoded, so spaces and symbols survive: /Applications/My%20App.app

Any other path is ignored. For example:

open 'goblin://uninstall?path=/Applications/Google%20Chrome.app'

This brings Goblin's window forward on Disk›Applications with Google Chrome selected and its files listed. Nothing is removed until you review the list and confirm. Spaces in the path are written as %20.

goblin://awake#

These start, stop and extend Keep Awake sessions. A session started from a link appears in the Keep Awake card and follows the same rules as any other session.

Start Keep Awake from a link#

1. Open goblin://awake/start with a length: for for how long, or until for a clock time.
2. Look at the menu bar: the Keep Awake icon appears, and the card in the panel's Power tab shows the time left.

open 'goblin://awake/start?for=2h'
open 'goblin://awake/start?until=6:30pm'

The first keeps the Mac awake for two hours. The second keeps it awake until 6:30 PM (tomorrow, if that has already passed). Both replace a session that's running. Neither prints anything.

Stop or extend Keep Awake from a link#

open 'goblin://awake/extend?by=30m'
open 'goblin://awake/stop'

The first adds 30 minutes to the running session and does nothing if none is running. The second ends the session.

Options for start and toggle#

• Give one of for, until or file, not more.
• file must start with / and can't contain ..; a link with any other path is ignored. The file counts as downloading in the same ways as with Choose File…; see While a file is downloading.
• No session can be longer than 30 days; that applies to for, until and by.
• display and lid start from your defaults in Settings›Keep Awake and change only what you give.
• Units for for and by: s, sec, second(s); m, min, minute(s); h, hr, hour(s); d, day(s).
• Names are not case-sensitive. A link with an unknown, repeated or empty option is ignored as a whole.

More examples, each opened with open '...' in Terminal:

goblin://awake/start?for=2h&display=sleep&label=Backup
goblin://awake/start?file=/Users/me/Downloads/Big.zip
goblin://awake/toggle?for=1h
goblin://awake/extend?by=15m

• The first starts a two-hour session named "Backup" that lets the screen sleep.
• The second stays awake until Big.zip finishes downloading.
• The third ends a running session, or starts a one-hour one when none is running.
• The fourth adds 15 minutes.

The goblin awake command and the AI assistant Keep Awake tools use these same links.

goblin://clip#

These reach Goblin's clipboard. They do nothing while Clipboard is off in Settings › Clipboard. No clipboard link deletes anything for good or hands clip contents back to whatever opened it.

• pinboard takes a pinboard's name; capitals don't matter.
• id is an item's full ID, the long form of the 8 characters goblin clip list prints. goblin clip list --json shows it in full.
• for takes lengths like 15m, 1h, 90m or 1h30m.
• Percent-encode the text in new: spaces as %20, & as %26, a new line as %0A.
• Option names are not case-sensitive. A link with an unknown, repeated or empty option is ignored as a whole.

Save text to the clipboard from a link#

open 'goblin://clip/new?text=Meeting%20notes&pinboard=Work'

This saves "Meeting notes" as a new clip in the Work pinboard and prints nothing. Replace the text after text= with your own, with spaces written as %20. Leave off &pinboard=Work to save it in History only.

Pause or resume the clipboard from a link#

open 'goblin://clip/pause?for=30m'
open 'goblin://clip/resume'

The first stops Goblin recording what you copy for 30 minutes. The second starts recording again straight away.

Show a pinboard from a link#

open 'goblin://clip/show?pinboard=Snippets'

This opens the clipboard strip on the Snippets pinboard.

The goblin clip command does the same from Terminal, and can also list, search and copy items.

goblin://capture#

Starts screenshots, recordings, the annotation editor and the other capture tools: goblin://capture/area, goblin://capture/full-screen, goblin://capture/record-gif and so on. The full list of names and options is on Automating capture.

goblin://measure#

goblin://measure (or goblin://measure/start) starts measuring the screen, the same as the Measure shortcut. goblin://measure/restore starts with the guides, held distances and selections from your last session. These links take no options, and they only do what the shortcut does. See Measure. In Terminal, goblin measure does the same.

open 'goblin://measure/restore'

This starts measuring with the guides and measurements from your last session.

goblin://archive#

The Finder menu items Open, Extract Here, Extract to Folder and Compress use these links, and you can use them too. The verb is open, extract-here, extract-to or compress, and each file or folder is a path option; repeat path for several, up to 200:

open 'goblin://archive/extract-here?path=/Users/me/Downloads/Photos.zip'
open 'goblin://archive/compress?path=/Users/me/Documents/Report&path=/Users/me/Desktop/Notes.txt'

The first extracts Photos.zip into a new folder next to it. The second opens the Compress sheet with the folder Report and the file Notes.txt ready to be made into one archive. Put your own paths in place of /Users/me/....

Paths must be full paths to things that exist, and the first three verbs need archive files. A link that doesn't check out does nothing. Open shows the archive in Goblin's archive window, Extract Here extracts each archive into a new folder beside it, Extract to Folder asks you to pick the folder, and Compress opens the Compress sheet. See Archives. Nothing is deleted or overwritten: a name clash gets a number added to it.

goblin://clipbar/install#

Opens the install sheet for a selection-bar extension. Use snippet for the text of a small extension, or url for the https:// address of an extension package:

open 'goblin://clipbar/install?url=https://example.com/extension-package'

This opens the install sheet for that package; replace the address with the package's real one.

Goblin always shows the sheet, so nothing installs until you click.

Opening folders and disks with Goblin#

Not a link, but close to one: drop a folder or a disk on Goblin's Dock icon, or choose Goblin from Finder's Open With menu, and Goblin opens Storage Explorer and scans it. Goblin never makes itself the default app for folders.